Fruit Salad---Make Your Own

Recently, I decided to make a fruit salad for myself and the other members of the Kirk Family. This is a favorite dish that we like to enjoy as a dessert at the end of a long, busy day on the farm.

I use one quart of pears, one quart of peaches, and a can of mandarin oranges. Pineapple or grapes are favored fruits to be added.

Since fruit salad (also known as fruit soup) is so versatile, I decided to try something new in it. Our home-canned pears traditionally have a slice of ginger root in each jar. As the pears age over the winter months, they become infused with a wonderful ginger flavor. This ginger flavor lends a very good taste to the fruit salad.

But, it didn't give this fruit salad enough of the flavor I was looking for! I thought for a minute, and remembered that my Grandma's fruit salad usually had apples in it. I decided to try it.

I wanted a kick to my fruit salad, so I chose one of the most unusual, dynamic and aromatic apples in the orchard: Cox's Orange. They have the taste of cinnamon, black pepper, sweet and tart flavor, with a hint of pear. If you haven't tried this apple, I would say that you definitely should! It is a flavor you won't soon forget!

So, I took two Cox's Orange, cored and diced them, added the apple chunks, gave it a stir, and tasted it. WOW! That was the best I'd had in a while! I'm sure I will try this again, maybe with a different apple variety so I can see what effect a different apple, with it's own unique flavor, might have on a fruit salad.